Clayton Utz advises Nido Petroleum Ltd on raising-Clayton Utz has advised ASX-listed oil and gas exploration and production company Nido Petroleum Ltd on its A$11.6 million placement to professional and sophisticated investors . The second tranche of the placement will be conditional upon shareholder approval.

Dealing with information privacy breaches: keep calm and carry on-How organisations respond to privacy breaches is just as important as the steps they implement to prevent a breach, but in the rush to respond they can sometimes miss important considerations. Caroline Bush and Wei-Loong Chen set out some commonsense things to remember at every step to ensure your response to a privacy breach is as comprehensive (and calm) as possible.

Doha COP 18: Where are we now, and where might we end up?-Doha COP 18 comes at a time when the Kyoto Protocol commitment period is about to end, and there's a perception that the progress in climate change policy has stalled. Is this perception fair? What can we reasonably expect from Doha COP 18, ask Brendan Bateman and Trisha Cashmere.

Energy White Paper - more competition, less regulation-The Australian Federal Government released its Energy White Paper today. Its focus is on ensuring that regulation is efficient and that markets and pricing incentives are allowed to operate properly to ensure efficient outcomes.

Home straight for retail trading of Australian Government Bonds-The Australian Parliament has now passed legislation to enable retail investors to participate in the trading of Commonwealth Government Securities. As Louise McCoach and Alex Chernishev explain, this is an important milestone in the development of the retail corporate bond market.

IP laws are OK, but reforms needed for public-private research collaborations, says ACIP-Collaborations between business, universities and other publicly-funded research organisations are an important driver of innovation, and Australia's IP laws generally support them, but confusion and lack of certainty about commercial arrangements are getting in the way. That's the finding of the latest ACIP report, Collaborations between the Public and Private Sectors: the Role of Intellectual Property.

Known unknowns: Discovery and particulars of group members in class actions-Two recent Victorian cases have given further - if slightly contradictory - guidance on when a defendant might get an order for particulars or discovery when there is a closed class group definition where group members are known. Michael Legg, Nicholas Mavrakis and Ross McInnes look at what this means for class action litigation.

Loan to own strategies as viable restructuring tools-Australian banks have historically relied on formal liquidation, voluntary administration and receivership processes available under the under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) and under general law where informal restructurings have failed.

New guidance on the US FCPA-The US Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission guidance on the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act will help set global standards for addressing corruption.

Pro bono burden reflects social gap-Pro bono lawyers make an important contribution to access to justice, but they are only a small part of the solution, which requires major government investment.

Queensland miners - Are you ready for an audit?-Queensland miners should be ready for an audit on their safety and health management system and induction programs following a reported increase in the number of disabling and lost-time injuries in the Queensland mining sector, warn Shae McCartney and Amy Lee.

Raising the bar - Changes to the Trade Marks Act 1995-Amendments to the Trade Marks Act 1995 should result in improvements in a number of areas of trade mark practice by streamlining processes, reducing delays and generally benefit trade mark owners, say Mary Still, Brett Doyle and Kate McElhone.

Regulators support industry-led move to OTC central clearing for now, and broad mandatory reporting-Louise McCoach looks at the recommendations in a new report on the OTC derivatives market. The report provides some useful guidance on potential future reforms that could affect the domestic OTC derivatives market as well as the policy position that is likely to inform the position of the regulators in the course of their involvement in any statutory consultation process in relation to central clearing, trade execution and reporting under Australia's proposed OTC derivatives framework.

Transfer pricing reforms released for public comment-The Exposure Draft of the Tax Laws Amendment (Cross Border Transfer Pricing) Bill 2013: Modernisation of transfer pricing rules was released on 22 November 2012. This is intended to give effect to the second stage of the Government's transfer pricing reforms announced in November 2011.

Treasury releases income tax relief for Tier 2 instruments-Currently, Tier 2 instruments could be treated as equity for tax purposes, in which case interest payable on the instruments would not be tax deductible, but as Louise McCoach, Mark Friezer and Alex Chernishev show, draft regulations released for comment could change that.

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Clayton Utz communications are intended to provide commentary and general information. They should not be relied upon as legal advice. Formal legal advice should be sought in particular transactions or on matters of interest arising from this communication. Persons listed may not be admitted in all States and Territories.